Monday, April 6, 2015

After seven years of being part of Vaison’s foot traffic, we
took the plunge and bought a used car. Our newer-than-our-Lansing-car is a 2010
Peugeot 207, diesel engine, manual transmission.

While it has been seven years that we have not owned a car
in France,
we have not been deprived of transportation. Thanks to the kindness of good
friends who have shared theirs with us, we have been able to use a car when
needed/wanted or go to the “Super U” grocery and rent one. On the other hand, I
do not expect that having a car is going to decrease my walking in the village.
I still plan to get my 12,000 steps every day.

Buying a car is one of my least favorite activities. In
fact, the only time that I got a good deal on a car was when I did not want to
buy one and the only time that I enjoyed buying a vehicle was when I bought my
’50 Chevy pickup.

We had started our search before going to Spain. We had
stopped at the Peugeot dealer in Vaison and told the manager what we were
looking for. He said that his assistant would search the internet and give us a
call. Three weeks later and no calls from the dealership, it seemed the dealer
did not care about finding us a car. Some have told us that their lack of
initiative is normal in France.
Normal or not, we were surprised.

We expanded our search and started looking for used cars on
“leboncoin.fr” and visiting other car lots. Ellen saw a model (a small Subaru) online
that she liked and we went to look at it. Our friends came with us and since
Allan is tall, we had him test out riding in the back seat (for knee space as
well as head space). The Subaru ‘Justy’ was small, with a three-cylinder gas
engine. Ellen had trouble shifting the manual transmission and the ride was
bouncy. It might have been a good car for the village but not for long trips.
We noticed a Peugeot on the lot and liked it. There is plenty of space in the
passenger compartment and a large trunk. Since diesel is cheaper in France
and much more efficient than gasoline, we were pleased with the engine.

The process of registering a car in France involves
getting “la carte grise” (the gray card) which you affix to the windshield. You
don’t have to change license plates as, since 2009, the license plate stays
with the car, not the owner. You can drive with an American driver’s license.
Insurance is required. You must also keep a fluorescent green vest and a
warning triangle in the car. (You must wear the vest and place the warning
triangle to alert on-coming traffic if you have to repair your car alongside
the road.)

Now that the car is parked outside of our apartment
building, I think I hear it calling to us saying: “Let’s go to Nyons and see
Catherine or to that restaurant in the next village that you have heard so much
about or the chateau in Grignan or… You now have wheels!” I know we will answer
the call. Watch out, Provence.
Here we come!

3 comments:

The car looks great and so do both of you! I can totally see you doing lots of interesting day trips and having all sorts of new adventures. Hopefully the trunk is really big so you can buy lots of wine! xoxo